Utah Restaurant Association honors state's best food services

The Utah Restaurant Association (URA) held its annual Restaurant Industry Awards Gala late last month and recognized the achievements of professionals in the restaurant industry, food community and those who contribute to the success of the restaurant industry from outside.

Restaurant owners, friends of the industry, notable vendors, as well as exemplary front-of-thehouse and back-of-the-house employees were honored with the “U- R-A  Heart of the Industry” award. This is the 30th year for the URA’s awards.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

This year’s winners included the Chef of the Year award given to Jodie Rogers of Deer Valley Resort. Five Seeds, Tona Sushi, The Daily SLC and Table X were restaurants receiving the Best Concept award. Ryan Lowder of Copper Kitchen won the “Golden Spoon” as Utah’s Restaurateur of the Year. Skyler Morris from SLC Eatery received the Heart of The Industry Front of House award for his tenured serving career.

The awards ceremony also highlighted the accomplishments of the URA ProStart Program’s students and teachers. The night celebrated all the regional and state competition winners and officially announced Provo High School as the state champions for the management competition and Alta High School as the state champions for culinary. Provo High School’s management team competed nationally and was recognized with a third-place ranking at the National ProStart Invitational. Alta High School’s culinary team placed 12th in the nation. Diane Cluff from Provo High School was honored with the culinary educator  “Teacher of the Year” award.  The URA’s school to career program ProStart trains juniors and senior in high school to enter careers in culinary or hospitality management in the restaurant industry. Twenty-eight high schools competed in their respective regions and the top 12 teams were chosen to compete at the state competition.

“We have an incredibly unique and diverse restaurant industry and food community in Utah,” said Melva Sine, president of the Utah Restaurant Association. “We have a wealth of talent and so many professionals that value and contribute to Utah’s busting restaurant economy. We love celebrating our food family.”{/mprestriction}